By Damiano de Felice. According to the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), business enterprises are expected to act with due diligence to avoid infringing on the rights of others and to address adverse impacts with which they are involved. Since 2011, key elements of this corporate responsibility to respect human rights have diffused across international organizations, standard-setting bodies, governments, civil society organizations and companies themselves. More...
24 juin 2015
The Impact of Mega-Ships
By Olaf Merk. Ever bigger container ships inspire awe and fascination, and are one of the hottest topics in maritime transport. They are also a headache for ports and terminals – mainly because of their vast size. More...
Assessing corporate respect for human rights is powerful but challenging
Triple- and quadruple-play bundles of communication services: Towards “all-in-one” packages?
By Agustín Díaz-Pinés. Bundles of services or products are part of our daily lives: having a set menu in a restaurant (starter, main dish and dessert), opening a bank account with a set of financial services (credit cards, cheques, deposit), or buying a laptop with a number of pre-installed software applications. Communication services are not an exception. Most communication bundles today are a combination of the following services: fixed telephony, fixed broadband, pay-television and mobile services (already a bundle of mobile telephony, SMS and data). More...
Corporate respect for human rights in the Chinese context
By Katryn Wright. With China’s growing importance in the global economy, increasing overseas foreign direct investment, and very real human rights impacts, Chinese and international companies face greater imperatives at home and abroad to address human rights. In China and internationally, there are greater pressures and incentives to address business and human rights – from rights-holders, governments, business partners, investors, consumers and civil society. In this context, Chinese approaches to responsible business will be discussed as part of the agenda of the OECD’s 3rd Global Forum on Responsible Business Conduct in Paris on the 18th and 19th June 2015. More...
Striving for excellence – international sporting events we can be proud of
By John Morrison. This week, the OECD’s Global Forum Responsible Business Conduct includes a plenary session on the issue of “Responsibility in International Sporting Events” with the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) included amongst the panellists. More...
Crowd sourcing models of fragility
By Jolanda Profos. The OECD’s new report States of Fragility 2015: Meeting Post-2015 Ambitions addresses the substantial challenges of defining – and classifying – fragility. The report proposes a multidimensional approach to the concept of `fragility’, rather than using a simple one-dimensional list. It argues that breaking down concepts of fragility into various dimensions can enable better understanding of the causes and drivers of fragility, thereby informing a better response. More...
Social capital in the UK
By Veronique Siegler. In general terms, social capital represents social connections and all the benefits they generate. High social capital means a “happy society”, where people are connected, tolerant, help each other and spend time for the “common good”. They have trust in others and in institutions, and are empowered to shape the society they live in. This has positive impacts on a range of areas, such as personal well-being, health, employment or crime. More...
Women in transport
By Magdalena Olczak-Rancitelli. The role of women in the transport sector is something that needs to be addressed. Women account for only 17.5% of the workforce in EU urban public transport for example, and hold less than 10% of technical and operational jobs. In the United States, women comprise only 15% of transport and related occupations and only 4.6% of commercial truck drivers are women. More...
As demands for better human rights reporting grow fast, help is at hand
By Roel Nieuwenkamp. When the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises were revised in 2011, one of the most important changes was the addition of a new chapter on human rights. Over the four years since that chapter was introduced, ever more companies have begun the journey of conducting human rights due diligence: the process of assessing and addressing their human rights impacts, and tracking and communicating how well they do so. More...
Living on less than two dollars a day: OECD Forum Discovery Lab
At the OECD Forum on 2 June, Xavier Godinot, Delegate for International Affairs of ATD Quart Monde (ATD Fourth World ), and René Locqueneux, a member of this NGO in the north of France, led a lively debate with over 50 Forum participants on living on less than two dollars a day.
(Une version française de l’article est disponible ici). More...
